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1 Chronicles 10-13

1 CHRONICLES

10:1-11:19 -  Saul’s life can be summed up in one word – ‘unfaithfulness’: ‘he was unfaithful to the Lord’. This is a warning: Don`t become like Saul who ‘did not keep the command of the Lord… and did not seek guidance from the Lord’ (10:13-14). David was quite different from Saul. He became king ‘according to the Word of the Lord’. He grew in strength because ‘the Lord of hosts was with him’ (11:3,9). David was helped greatly by his ‘mighty men, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel’ (11:10). These things were ‘written for our instruction’ (Romans 15:4). Praise God for what He has done in the past – ‘Blessed be the Lord for ever!’ (Psalm 89:52). Pray for more of His blessing in the future – ‘O that some one would give me to drink from the well of  Bethlehem’ (11:17; Revelation 22:17; John 7:37-39).

11:20-12:7 -  Here, we read of ‘the mighty men of the armies’ (26), ‘the mighty men who helped him in war’ (1). What are we to learn from this list of names? We must look on from here to 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 where we learn some vitally important lessons regarding spiritual warfare. We learn what our war is not and what our weapons are not: ‘we are not carrying  on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly’. We learn where our strength comes from and what it is to be used for: ‘the weapons of our warfare… have divine power to destroy strongholds’. We learn about the goal of our warfare: ‘We… take every thought captive to obey Christ’, pressing on toward an ‘obedience’ which ‘is complete’. Make this your prayer, “Lord, help me to be ‘valiant…, a doer of good deeds’ (22).

12:8-13:14 -  ‘The kingdom of Saul was turned over to David according to the Word of the Lord’ (23). What was God’s purpose in giving the kingdom to David? ‘In the days of Saul’, there had been spiritual neglect. Now, God was calling His people to return to Him – ‘let us bring again the ark of our God to us’ (3). The people returned to the Lord (4). They rejoiced in Him (13:8). Sadly, their joy was short-lived. Failure to do God’s will lead to the withdrawal of God’s blessing (13:9-10). Where the Word of God remains among God’s people – honoured and given its rightful place – , there will be blessing (13:14). How are we to honour  God’s Word? – ‘Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only’. Pray that you will not be a ‘hearer who forgets’. Pray that you will be ‘a doer of God’s Word’ – obedient to God and blessed by God (James 1:22,25).

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